The Position of the Injured Third Party
| Date | 01 March 1938 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1937.tb00024.x |
| Published date | 01 March 1938 |
| Author | Hector Hughes |
258
MODERN
LAW
REVIEW March,
1938
THE
POSITION
OF
THE
INJURED THIRD
PARTY
HE
recent Report of the Departmental Committee on
Compulsory Insurance' draws attention once more to the
T
tendency in road traffic legislation to place legal burdens
on one section of the community for the benefit of another.
It
leads one to inquire whether this legislation has been effective
to solve the problems
it
was designed to solve and how far it is
correct in principle.
This body of legislation grew
pari
passzc
with the enormous
increase in the quantity and speed of road traffic.
It
may not be
unhelpful therefore to note the manner
of
its growth by looking
at some of these characteristic measures which have been adopted
to deal with the evils which are apparently inseparable from
modern road use.
Twenty years ago, before the day of the horseless carriage,
some
25,000
accidents involving personal injury occurred each
year on the roads of Great Britain. Since then, concomitantly
with the expansion of mechanical transport, this figure has been
multiplied tenfold.2 Many of the victims of the occurrences are
potential litigants, and
so
the emergence of this vast road
accidents problem has been of especial significance in relation to
the law.
It
has produced several noteworthy results. Amongst these
are an enormous increase in actions at law arising out of road
accidents
;
considerable development of the law of tort, including
the introduction of new heads of claim for damages
;
a
widening
of the scope and complication
of
the nature of the business of
voluntary insurance and its relevant law; the imposition by
statute of compulsory insurance
;
and the radical alteration
of
some of the old rules of law.
The series of legislative steps which have been taken in
attempting to secure that no wronged road user shall be left
without a remedy in recoverable compensation have not been
completely effective. The recent Report already mentioned
shows this. Before referring more particularly to its recommenda-
tions
it
would be advisable to mention some of the important
steps which preceded it.
Up to
1930
the victims
6f
road accidents were confronted not
only by the burden of proof of negligence, which
is
still theirs,
*
Road Accidents Involving Personal Injury,
a
Return issued
by
the
Home
Cmd.
5528.
Office on zznd March, 1937
:
Parliamentary Paper.
No.
89
of
Session 1936-7.
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